Matthew Upson

It is becoming increasingly clear that West Ham will not be able to buy a striker without selling one of their star players. Although he is our best defender, I fear we will have to sell Matthew Upson. According to news reports, he is wanted by Manchester City and Aston Villa. No doubt Upson would prefer the higher wages being offered by City but I suspect he will go to Aston Villa for about £12m. This will enable Zola to buy Marouane Chamakh, the 25-year-old Moroccan international. Bordeaux want £7.5m for their striker. It sounds a lot of money but he looks the kind of player who will do well in the premier league.

Daily Mirror's West Ham Archive

Some good photographs and original newspaper match reports on West Ham:

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/archive/West-Ham-Cup-Kings-Of-Europe-article20005.html

Anthony Edgar

Anthony Edgar got some rave reviews for his pre-season performance against Kingstonian where he worked well just behind Frank Nouble and Cristian Montano. A London lad he was born on 30th September 1990 and is a cousin of Jermain Defoe.

http://www.whufc.com/page/Youths/0,,12562,00.html

http://www.whufc.com/page/News/0,,12562~1740374,00.html

Zavon Hines

West Ham's pre-season games have been disappointing so far. The one bright spark is Zavon Hines. Although he only played the last ten minutes in the two games in China, he looked very lively and was impressed by the way he took his goal. (You need to see it in slow motion to realise just how good it was.)

The Hammers handed him his debut at the start of the 2008/09 season as a 27th minute replacement for Valon Bahrami in a Carling Cup tie at home to Macclesfield. Hines scored the third goal in a 4-1 extra-time win.

Hines signed on loan for Coventry City on 27 March 2008. He scored his first goal in his second game for Coventry City on 1 April 2008 in a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. According to the BBC: "Substitute Zavon Hines looked to have snatched victory for the Sky Blues with his sublime left-foot volley late on."

Hines missed much of the 2008–09 season with a knee injury but signed a new contract in March 2009, keeping him at the club until summer 2010.

Hines was born in Jamaica and grew up in the East End of London. On 10 February 2009 Hines was called into the Jamaica team for their friendly international against Nigeria on 11 February 2009. However, he remained on the bench.

The way Hines moves reminds me of Ian Wright. He seems a confident lad, a vital ingredient if you are going to be a top striker. It would not surprise me if Hines is our breakthrough player this season.


Birth Date December 27, 1988
Height 5' 10" (1.78m)
Weight 12.2 st (77.6 kg)


http://www.whufc.com/page/PlayerProfilesDetail/0,,12562~43469,00.html

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=48922

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zavon_Hines